βrοκεη
by LolKittie64
Summary: There are cats of the sewers. Some break free, some don't. Each has a story. But who will mend, and who will stay broken?
1. Toffee

Toffee lay down on the cold slate. She felt shivers crawl up her spine as the iciness of the stone shocked her out of sleepiness. Her kit-soft pelt did nothing to prevent the matter. At least her wounds were healing. The small, dusky brown kitten mewled pitifully as she lay on her flank-gashes, wincing. Her background wasn't pretty.

-Flashback-

The Twoleg kicked her once more as the kit wailed in pain. Her tawny pelt was drenced in sticky, red liquid that oozed from her scars. Desperately, the tiny she-cat tried to move from the garden but she was weakened by her wound. The Twoleg threw a chair at the poor creature but luckily it missed by a rabbit's whisker. Even her low stamina and pain couldn't stop the little cat from dashing through a hole in the fence, onto the wide street. The furious Twoleg yowled indignantly but there was no chance of her going back. Not ever.

_First it killed my mother, _thought the brown kitten, _and now it's crippled me. What more could the fox-heart want from me?_ She ran and ran, through the streets of bussling people, through the deserted Twoleg nests, through the gutters. That was when she heard the voice.

"Tawnykit? Is that you?"

-Flashback end-

Toffee watched the sleek black cat dash down the ugly concrete steps to the sewer. The kitten picked herself up wearily, stretching even though it hurt her scabs. _I mustn't worry Echo, _the little brown kit told herself.

"Hello, Toffee. Are your wounds opening up again?" asked the kind black cat. Toffee nodded mournfully. "Here, let me apply a fresh poultice. I'd just got some marigold from the roadside. It seems to be thriving there." Echo knew that making friendly conversation with the abused kit made it easier for both of them. As Echo chewed up the yellow flowers, Steel slunk out from the shadows. It seemed he had been working out a route for the best food-grabbing spots in the Twolegplace, making permanent marks in the stone slabs with thorn-sharp claws.

"Hows the little _weakling?_" asked the massive tom cruelly, leering at the kitten. Toffee flattened her ears at the snide remark.

"Have you got bees in your brain, Steel? You're no worse than that wretched Twoleg!" yowled Echo defensively. She treated Toffee as if she were her own kit, and no mother can bear to have their kit insulted.

"No, Echo, _you've_ got bees in your brain. You of all cats should know better than to waste their time with stupid youngsters that need to be paw-fed when they're already ten moons old. This here 'kit' would already be an apprentice or whatever you Clan cats call it." That was the last straw.

"I've had enough of you, Steel! First of all, Toffee is mentally _and_ physically scarred. She'll never be the same again! She's not like other cats. And secondly, how DARE you insult my culture!" The argument went on and on between the two cats. Toffee whimpered and flinched as if she was being hit over and over again. The words, _She'll never be the same again _rang in her head. A lump formed in her throat. _Will I?_


	2. Echo

Echo had her sharp green eyes screwed up by the time the argument was over. Steel had padded away with a twisted smirk on his dark-gray face. Echo sighed wearily. Arguing with Steel was like arguing with a hedgehog - prickly and stupid. She settled down to apply the poultice to the kit, but Echo, lookhad retreated to a dark corner of the sewer. Toffee only did this when she was really upset. Echo went to coax the little she-cat from her hiding spot when Red came down the steps, his rib-cage jutting out alarmingly. The stubborn tom always refused to eat food from the Twolegplace, which consequently made him very thin.

"Red, you beetle-brain, you're a bag of bones! Why don't you eat like every other cat?" Echo asked, although she knew he wouldn't listen. Steel joined in too.

"Yeah, what's your problem? Do you think you're above everycat else? Look, the butcher round the corner is as soft as a dove's feather. All you have to do to get a piece of meat is look sad and thin. Which," he added truthfully, "Shouldn't be hard in your case." Red looked at the burly tom witheringly.

"I'm not a helpless kit. I can look after myself. Just keep your fox-hearted schemes to yourself, okay?" Red growled defiantly. Steel just shrugged carelessly.

"Fine then. Starve for all I care," he spat poisinously. Echo looked at the gray tom as he walked away into the shadows to eat. During the conversation, Toffee had sat down near Echo, looking up at her admiringly. That look made Echo's heart throb with pride. _She's like Tawnykit in every way,_ she thought sadly. As the black she-cat applied the orange paste to the kitten's underbelly, a moment of nostalgia came over her.

-Flashback-

One last time, she looked at her old Clan. She was no longer Echofur. She was no longer the esteemed medicine cat of RiverClan. She was a rogue, an outsider. And all because of forbidden love. She wondered if she'd ever see Stormheart again. His soft face, misty green eyes, cheerful tone. She'd miss him. But at least she had a memory.

She looked down at the tawny coloured kit, smiling. That kit would be her life.

"I never even got to name you!" Echo thought out loud. "Well, you look like a Tawnykit to me." Sadness overwhelmed her as she realised this kit would grow up never knowing the freedom of Clan life. She walked and walked, carrying the tiny kit by the scruff of her neck, looking up through the dark canopy of leaves to check the sky. Dusk was upon them. It wasn't safe for her nor her kit to be out, alone in a forest unprotected. Rogues walked this forest, and she had no Clan to protect her. Echo shuddered as she realised she was a rogue now.

After many restless hours of walking, the black she-cat found an abandoned Twoleg barn to spend the night in. She placed her shaking kit in the warm hay and curled around her, protecting her._ I'll never let you go..._

-Flashback End-

But she couldn't remember anymore. Leastways, she didn't want to. Echo went over to Steel, having finished applying the marigold poultice to Toffee.

"Take no notice of the youngster, Steel. He wouldn't know good food if it nipped him on the nose." Steel looked at Echo. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Here," the tom spoke gruffly. "Want some?" Echo smiled, and took half._ I always have to pick up the pieces... But that isn't a problem, not if everything works out. _The black she-cat looked at Steel. _It seems everycat down here has a fierce temperament... apart from Toffee and I._

Echo glanced quickly at Toffee. She was asleep, her chest rising and falling with each shallow breath. Echo couldn't help smiling._ If only she had a life in the Clans... if only _I _had a life in the Clans... _Echo's eyes misted over. The broken memories would never fade. This place was not her home.


End file.
